Play Date with Science – Easy Fun Experiment

Making science fun and exciting for kids when they are young lays the foundation for the years ahead. My son and one of his buddies had a play date with science yesterday. It was a huge hit with them! I told the boys that we had a mystery to solve. Which powder would make the biggest eruption? That was all two 5-year-old boys needed to hear.

Play Date with Science

Gather your materials. You will need three small containers, a smaller container for your little scientists to pour the vinegar out of (ours were little food containers used for dip), cookie sheets to keep your kitchen from becoming a mess, and some paper and markers to make numbers. Then you will also need some baking powder, baking soda, cornstarch, and vinegar. I made a little chart but we didn’t use it, they were too excited and that excitement was my goal so we just asked questions and made predictions verbally.

Start by pouring the vinegar into a smaller container. This made it much easier to refill the cups between pours.

Fill the containers with the powder and place in order on the trays.

Call the kids. Have them check out the powders however they want and decide which will make the biggest eruption.

Pour! #1 was the baking powder which has baking soda in it so it bubbled over (more than I expected) but it didn’t erupt.

#2 was cornstarch and both boys declared it a “Dud”.

#3 was the grand finale and it didn’t disappoint.

After the experiment was over they played and poured until the bubbles were gone. They were chattering so quickly to each other about droids and potions and giggling it was hard to catch what they were pretending it all was. But it was clear they were having a ball. After the play date was over my son asked to do more play dates with science experiments. I am more than willing!

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Fabulous Allie! This is totally up my son’s alley and I am so sad I didn’t see this post earlier today. Maybe there would’ve been less tantruming by the 4yr old if we’d been erupting something?! Definitely doing this tomorrow. Thank you!

My girls never grow tired of these types of science activities. I’ll need to stock up on baking soda and vinegar for outside activities this spring! We’ve made foaming monsters, exploded bags, and have done rockets. Also, they painted a volcano and let it erupt- so fun!

Hi Ally — I popped on to the blog today and immediately jumped on this idea. Dawson did is 3x and now he’s seeing what happens when water and ice cubes are added to the mess. Thanks for all of your ideas.